[x-pubpol] Miracle In Marrakesh: “Historic” Treaty For Visually Impaired Agreed

[Joly MacFie]

http://www.ip-watch.org/2013/06/26/miracle-in-marrakesh-historic-treaty-for-visually-impaired-agreed/

By Catherine Saez

Marrakesh, Morocco – The mood was one of celebration at the Marrakesh
Palais des Congrès to greet the success of World Intellectual Property
Organization negotiators in their attempt to produce a draft treaty text
showing consensus. After a difficult start to the week, delegates achieved
success and the corridors of the conference centre echoed with laughter and
congratulations. Tears of joy were shed as most celebrated this as an
historic agreement. Visually impaired people and civil society supporting
them were ecstatic, some said overwhelmed.

The final informal consolidation draft
text<http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/WIPO-Dipl-Conf-Adopted-Draft-Treaty-June-2013.pdf>
[pdf] was issued late at night, and all articles were adopted by a full
room of delegates. The text is now off to the drafting committee which will
ensure that all different language versions are consistent and compatible.

For the visually impaired community, this is seen as nothing short of a
miracle. After 10 days of hard negotiations, Dan Pescod, who leads the
World Blind Union’s European campaign for the treaty, confessing
exhaustion, told Intellectual Property Watch before the text was available
“part of me wants to see the text in front of me and part of me feels this
is an historic day many years in the making.”

Maryanne Diamond, immediate past president of the World Blind Union told
Intellectual Property Watch that all issues that mattered for blind people
had been addressed. “We are still in shock,” she said, adding “this is the
beginning of changing the world for blind people.”

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